a) Field of the Invention
The application claims an invention directed to an electrophoretic display comprising isolated cells of well-defined shape, size and aspect ratio which cells are filled with charged pigment particles dispersed in a dielectric solvent and sealed, and novel processes for its manufacture.
b) Description of Related Art
The electrophoretic display (EPD) is a non-emissive device based on the electrophoresis phenomenon of charged pigment particles suspended in a solvent. It was first proposed in 1969. The display usually comprises two plates with electrodes placed opposing each other, separated by using spacers. One of the electrodes, typically on the viewing side, is transparent. For the passive type of EPDs, row and column electrodes on the top (the viewing side) and bottom plates respectively are needed to drive the displays. In contrast, an array of thin film transistors (TFT) on the bottom plate and a common, non-patterned transparent conductor plate on the top viewing substrate are required for the active type EPDs. An electrophoretic fluid composed of a colored dielectric solvent with charged pigment particles dispersed therein is enclosed between the two electrodes.
When a voltage difference is imposed between the two electrodes, the pigment particles migrate by attraction to the plate of polarity opposite that of the pigment particles. Thus the color showing at the transparent plate, determined by selectively charging the plates, can be either the color of the solvent or the color of the pigment particles. Reversal of plate polarity will cause the particles to migrate back to the opposite plate, thereby reversing the color. Intermediate color density (or shades of gray) due to intermediate pigment density at the transparent plate may be obtained by controlling the plate charge through a range of voltages.
EPDs of different pixel or cell structures have been reported previously, for example, the partition-type EPD (M. A. Hopper and V. Novotny, IEEE Trans. Electr. Dev., 26(8):1148-1152 (1979)) and the microencapsulated EPD (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,961,804, 5,930,026 and 6,017,584). Each of these has its own problems as noted below.
In a partition-type EPD, there are partitions between the two electrodes for dividing the space into smaller cells in order to prevent undesired movement of the particles such as sedimentation. However, difficulties are encountered in the formation of the partitions, the process of filling the display with a fluid, enclosing the fluid in the display, and keeping the suspensions of different colors separated from each other.
The microencapsulated EPD has a substantially two dimensional arrangement of microcapsules each having therein an electrophoretic composition of a dielectric fluid and a dispersion of charged pigment particles that visually contrast with the dielectric solvent. The microcapsules can be formed by interfacial polymerization, in-situ polymerization or other known methods such as physical processes, in-liquid curing or simple/complex coacervation. The microcapsules are typically prepared in an aqueous solution and, to achieve a useful contrast ratio, their mean particle size is relatively large (50-150 microns). The large microcapsule size results in a poor scratch resistance and a slow response time for a given voltage because a large gap between the two opposite electrodes is required for large capsules. Also, the hydrophilic shell of microcapsules prepared in an aqueous solution typically results in sensitivity to high moisture and temperature conditions. If the microcapsules are embedded in a large quantity of a polymer matrix to obviate these shortcomings, the use of the matrix results in an even slower response time and/or a lower contrast ratio. To improve the switching rate, a charge-controlling agent is often needed in this type of EPDs. However, the microencapsulation process in an aqueous solution imposes a limitation on the type of charge-controlling agents that can be used. Other drawbacks associated with the microcapsule system include poor resolution and poor addressability for color applications.